Di Francesco’s pre match press conference ahead of Cagliari

Roma manager Eusebio Di Francesco spoke today ahead of the Giallorossi’s clash against Cagliari. These are his words

Has the midfield grown?
They are growing in their movement in the two phases, but they have to improve many aspects to become better at protecting the defence, we have to work, I’m seeing good growth from everyone.

Cagliari has scored many goals, do you expect a physical match?
I have never seen non-physical matches, physicality and the technical aspect make the difference. Pavoletti has great qualities, especially in the final third, he’s their reference point – especially on set pieces.

Is there a certain area you want to see improved tomorrow?
We have to improve in many things, especially our final decisions. You can not expect everything to come right away, but we have to protect the defence with our midfielders and give the opponents less chances to score. I would like to improve this aspect, I also emphasised this with Inter, but we must give our opponents as little as possible. We have to work more as a team.

Can the advanced Florenzi solution in attack be used again?
Tomorrow it will be difficult, he will play as a full-back tomorrow.

Fazio is totally recovered?
Yes, but Manolas took a knock in training and we will evaluate his availability later – he can barely walk, so I hope he recovered quickly. We need as many available as possible.

Perotti and Pastore can play more minutes?
Yes, perhaps Pastore more than Perotti, but neither will play from the beginning.

Marcano?
He trained very well and I’m considering having him play from the start tomorrow. I have more choices at the back than the rest of the pitch, let’s see how Manolas is and then I will decide.

The Editor of RomaPress.us, John has been covering Italian football as a freelance journalist for over 10 years and has appeared in various publications including ASRoma.com, EuroFantasyLeague.com, and ESPN.